Are your brochures left unread among those old magazines?

When was the last time you came across a marketing brochure and actually read it? And when was the last time you looked at your marketing brochure and thought “Do people really read this anymore!”? Well, you invest man hours, money and skills in making your brochure every time. But does it get you the returns what you expect it to?

Most people are likely not to read your brochure but only to skim through the visual elements. But your design aesthetics doesn’t market your business, at least not by itself. So what might you be missing?

What kind of brochure would you like?

• A Point-of-Sale Brochure? The one that’s set out on display to be taken by anyone interested who happens to be passing-by; most often strategically placed in places like retail outlets, doctors’ offices and waiting rooms, and the like?
• A Response Marketing Brochure? The one that is sent in response to an enquiry for a particular product or service, responding to the query along with all the advantages and how to go about placing an order?
• Probably a Direct Marketing Brochure? Targeting a particular demographic and providing information which hopefully might convince a percentage of recipients to pick up the phone and call you for more info or even to place an order?
• Or Sales Support Brochures? The informational ones used by sales teams with contacts who have passed the ‘potential’ stage and are now in the ‘potential customer’ category? This type of brochure will contain information which reinforces claims made by earlier brochures and sales personnel.

Whatever kind your marketing brochure falls under, there are a few common areas which many businesses pay little attention to. It may have a visually appealing design with pleasing colors printed on papers of rich quality. But, at the end of the day, you want people to call you, don’t you?

Common mistakes businesses do with their marketing brochures:

• They fail to highlight how the reader benefits. You know, the USP. For a customer to buy your product or service there has to be a benefit somewhere. If you focus on your business and forget to inform your reader of where they will score, you’ve missed the point entirely.
• They try to ‘wow’ the reader. Too often brochures are overflowing with superlatives and adjectives with very little substance in them. That’s an assumption straightaway that your reader is gullible and can be conned with words. You haven’t told your customer about your product or organization and why they should place their confidence in both. So rather than waffling, get to the point.
• They spew jargons. And people hate them. Take another look at your brochure. Is it heavy on technical spiel and catch-words and light on stuff which they can understand and makes sense to them? If it is, you’re looking at a non-starter.
• They are never-ending. Some marketing brochures are stuffed-full of information which no reader has the time or inclination to read. A well-designed and well-conceived brochure must grab the reader’s attention quickly and concisely. Leave the obvious ones out. If your reader is interested, he’ll call you for exactly that.
• Some look like a back-street get-up. Some cautious businesses try to do it on the cheap. That’s a measure of false economy. You want the reader to pick up the newsletter before you want them to read it, don’t you?

Now, how many of these have anything to do with the design of the brochure? The answer is, each one. It isn’t just about getting the copy right. It is more about how your design presents your copy. Only with the help of your design, you could serve your readers the meal that they believe they could digest. Because they don’t touch a meal when they don’t trust it.